Of Snowflakes and Catnip
by Meechums
Summary: Malakai's second Christmas with Leah and the Cullens. One Shot related to my fic: Is It Easier Having No Options.


**Author's Note: Merry Christmas all.**

**This is a little one-shot for my fanfic **_**Is It Really Easier Having No Options**_**. The characters are all the same, with the addition of my OC Malakai, and Leah's imprintee.**

**R&R Enjoy,**

**Meech**

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It's hard to believe that it's been a year since I arrived here in Forks.

...That it's been a year since I lost my family...

...That its been a year since I became a Cullen...

...That it's been a year since I met the wittiest she-wolf I would ever know, Leah Clearwater.

So much has happened.

I banked a right into the driveway of my parents glass house. Then, turned off the V-10 of the Cadillac XLR, my Christmas gift from Carlisle last year. I looked to my left to see Leah's boastful, you-can't-handle-this grin.

Although she said nothing, I answered her. "I agree." I remembered that I read something in some random book about women liking it when you answered their body language, and treating it as though they said something aloud.

"What?" Leah said as she opened the car door. She planted one surefooted step into the fresh snow on the ground as it fell from the sky.

"C'mon," I changed the subject as I watched my fingers remove the car keys. All of the illuminated controls went dark. I opened my own door and stood up in the white powder. Leah did the same. "Everyone knows it's not Christmas til' I walk in."

"And people say you're conceited. I wonder why..." Leah said sarcastically. She reached into the car to grab my black, zip-up hooded sweatshirt. She hurled it at me and I barely saw it in my peripheral vison, but snapped around quickly and caught it. "You're gonna be dead if you don't wear your damn coat."

Leah scolded me even though she wore some thin, skinny jeans, and a thin, white, zip-up hoodie. The white boots with faux white fur I had gotten her for her birthday this year put the icing on the cake.

It didn't matter what she wore. Leah was hot, and Leah knew she was hot.

"Stop undressing me with your mind." Leah sauntered around the car, to the back.

_Damnit, foiled again. _I chuckled to myself.

"Open the trunk so I get Emmett's gift." Leah said and tapped on the glossy, black paint.

I wouldn't have believed those words if I hadn't been the one to orchestrate this whole event. We did a secret santa-type thing, where everyone picked a name from a red santa hat. However, in this one, we called out who's name we pulled from the hat. Since it wouldn't be fair for Edward to read everyone's mind to know who got who. And it wouldn't be any fairer for Alice to see who was buying what.

Originally, Leah wasn't going to take part. I had to beg her, fucking _beg_ her. And that alone wasn't enough. Only after some heavy persuasion from Jacob and Seth, did she agree.

"Yeah, yeah." I fumbled with the keys in my pocket and pressed what felt like the button for the trunk.

My car's alarm blared louder than I remember it ever being. The sirens and horns echoed throughout the trees of the forest. I could see the birs flee from the tops of them as snow fell on unsuspecting squirrels as they bounded away from my noisy vehicle.

I yanked the keys out of my pocket too quickly. They flew out of my hands into the air. I waited for the to fall back down to me, but that felt like an eternity. When they did, I tried catching them and lets just say...There's a perfectly legitimate reason why I'm not a wide reciever in the NFL or an outfielder for the New York Yankees.

The keys escaped my grasp and fell into the snow.

"Damnit." I said, but my voice was drowned out by the ruckus.

I bent over and got a good grip on the keys and stood up. I pressed the little, round button on the remote that had a picture of an open padlock, which in turn, caused the alarm to stop.

I sheepishly looked up at Leah, scratching my left eyebrow and wearing the most embarrassed grin on my face.

She looked at me and sighed as she shook her head. "The trunk?" She reminded me with a smile.

"Oh yeah." I pressed another button on the remote and the trunk of the car opened with a pop. Then, I jogged to the back of the car to get the present I bought for Alice.

Leah was still laughing when I made it to the trunk. "Gimmie those before you hurt someone." Leah said playfully and snatched the car keys from my hand.

I rummaged through the trunk and extracted the one box I placed back there. I wrapped it in red wrapping paper, with little green Christmas trees around it. Leah told me that it looked gay at her house, but it was all I had to work with so...

Leah already had her box for Emmett in her hand and was on her way into the house when I turned around to face her.

I shut the trunk and loped up the stairs, taking four at a time. I opened the door and simultaneously felt the wind being knocked out of me.

"Malakai!" I heard when the seemingly unstoppable force slammed into my abdomin.

It launched me from the top of the porch, over the railing, and into the soft, cold snow of that coated the cobblestones of the driveway.

When we hit the ground, I lifted my head warily and peeked down at my assailant. It was none other than Little Miss Renesmee. Although, she wasn't so little anymore. Even though she was like seven or eight, she had the body of someone my age. Had she not been squeezing the air from my fragile lungs, I might have actually enjoyed her curves pressed so closely to mine.

_Ugh, did I really just think that? She a fucking kid Kai, a kid._

"Yes, you did." Edward's smooth voice seethed with a father's anger. "Nessie honey, Let Malakai up."

_Uh-oh._

Renesmee let me go and I could finally breath freely. I was actually getting lightheaded from the lack of air to my brain. She ran effortlessly lept over the porch railing and skipped into the house.

I tensed as Edward glared at me from the door frame. "Relax. I'll let you live. Merry Christmas." He said and entered the house, leaving the door open for me as he dissappeared around a corner.

I jumped to my feet like one of the people in those old martial arts movies and used my..._extra_, strength to propel myself upward and over the rail without breaking a sweat.

When I made it into the house everyone was smiling and actually having fun. Even Leah, who was damn near forced to be here.

"Merry Christmas Kai." Alice said and skipped over to give me a hug. She radiated happiness that invaded my bones and caused me to smile widely as well. She pulled away and examined the box I had in my hand. "Oooh, what did you get me?"

"I made a few calls using my old name." I told her. "One of my father's old friends is a great metalsmith."

Calling Ethan a great metalsmith was a grave understatement. He could do damn near anything with the shittiest materials. I still remember the time he made me a small brown and silver falcon sculpture from a penny.

"I just hope Jasper doesn't kill me for giving you jewelery." I glanced around for one of my angry brothers before I set the box in Alice's hand.

As I pulled back my hand Jasper walked over and gave Alice a small peck on the cheek. Then he regarded me. "Merry Christmas." He said and nodded his head. "And no worries. If I had a dollar for everytime some guy tried to give Alice some jewelery, I'd own half of Wall Street." His butterscotch eyes flicked to the small red box. "Besides, you're my brother, so all is good."

"Okay, now that we have Jazz's approval..." Alice ripped the wrapping paper off of the box, revealing the black velvet on the inside. She opened it and pulled out the one-of-a-kind necklace I had crafted for her.

The thin, braided chain was wrought from untarnishable platinum. The pendant had the family seal of a lion, but I added some color to the equation. Red rubies were for the lion's eyes, blue sapphires for the claws, and yellow diamonds composed the body. Instead of fangs, I had Ethan put Alice's initials in the lion's jaw.

"Merry Christmas." I said. "You like it?"

Alice examined the bauble intricately. When she was finished, her topaz eyes flicked to me. "It's beautiful!" She exclaimed and embraced me once more in her steely grasp. "Thank you."

"Cool." I smiled and tried to remove myself from Alice's cold arms.

"Nope, you have to hug me a little longer." Alice laughed. She tightened her grip around me for another few seconds, then released me. "Okay, now you can run along to your wolf."

"Thanks." I excused myself and sauntered through the room.

Nessie was sprawled across the floor with the new art set that Rosalie bought her. Jake grimaced at the steel bristled dog brush Rose bought him. Esme and Carlisle, who were lucky enough to draw each other's names sat on the white couch hugging one another. Bella and Edward mirrored them. And Alice and Jasper were still pawing with her new pendant. Leah walked upstairs and into what sounded like my room.

I let her be for now. I wanted to see what Emmett thought of the NBA 2K10 game she bought for him.

Speaking of Emmett, I could see him gesturing for me to come into the kitchen.

I jogged into the overly large kitchen.

"Hey bro, Merry Christmas." Emmett said as he drained some tea from the tea kettle. He poured it into some cups he had spread out on the counter. "You can have your tea now broski."

"You made tea?" I had to admit, I was a little suspicious of Emmett's kindness expressed through something I was expected to ingest.

"It's Christmas. Come on." He laughed and tapped the cup closest to me. "That's yours."

"Umm, thanks." I said, watching for any sign of a prank.

"No prob." Emmett grabbed a silver platter from the cabinet above him. "You know, Leah's not so bad." He said.

"Nope, not at all." I sipped the tea, which was surprisingly delicious, then reconsidered my statement. "Err, she has her times, but she's great."

"Yeah, I can't wait to school Seth on 2K-10 after I finish serving these." He clanked the last of the tea cups onto the platter and lifted it with one hand.

"Where is Seth anyway?" I asked and followed him out of the kitchen.

"In your room I think." Emmett nodded toward the stair with his head. "He said something about leaving his tampons in your room."

"The fuck?!" I laughed and was thankful for not having a mouthful of tea. That would have burned the hell out of my nose.

"Relax, he just wanted to grab a few of your CD's." Emmett readjusted the cups on top of the tray to achieve better balance. "Leah's up there with him."

"Cool." I jogged up the stairs as we approached them. Emmett kept straight, on his path to the living room. "Thanks for the tea." I called over my shoulder.

"Anytime." I heard him respond.

I hooked a right and stepped into my room. Leah spread herself across my bed and Seth was on the floor next to the CD towers that were here from the days when this was still Edward's room. They both glanced at me in aknowledgement. Seth was the first to speak.

"Merry Christmas." Seth said and flicked through a few of my CD's. "Just getting some music for Alice. She didn't really like my rock collection, and doesn't think that Edward's classic stuff will get everyone dancing."

"True true." I downed a few gulps of my tea. As I did, I felt a little whacked out. _Mmm, It'll pass._ I told myself and killed the rest of it. "Dude, Emmett's tea is friggen delicious."

Seth whipped his head away from the CD's he had in his hands. "Seriously? No way."

"Yeah."

"Dude, I was wondering what he was doing with all that catnip down there." Seth said with a wicked smile.

"Nah, he had all the cups out on the counter and poured them at the same time." I told him. But, then again, Emmett was persistent that I drank from this cup I have in my hand. _Motherfucker._

Seth laughed uproarously and rolled around on the floor. "He had that cup in the fridge. He probably just microwaved it."

"Kai, why are your eyes doing that." Leah asked from the bed. She was gazing into my white irises.

I ran as fast as I could to the mirror that was mounted on my closet door. I pulled back a few strands of my shining, white hair and gazed into my eyes. My pupils were rapidly changing size and I didn't know why.

Surely, the big, bad snow leopard on the block wasn't reacting like a neutered house cat, when it came to catnip.

I was so going to kill Emmett for this, but I had other business to tend to at the moment; before the catnip affected me any further.

"Leah, come with me." I opened the door to the hall. "Quickly." I ran over and grabbed Leah's hand, towing her along as I flew down the stairs and out the front door. I dragged her to the car. "Unlock it please." Leah still had my keys.

She reached into the pocket of her hoodie and pressed the button that unlocked the car doors. "What's going on?"

"You'll see." I told her as I flung the car door open and climbed inside. I opened the center console. Luckily, the small, white, velvet boxes I placed there were exactly the way I left it. Meaning, Leah hadn't stumbled across it. I grabbed it, hid it up my sleeve and got out of the car.

"Kai, slow down." Leah sighed as the wind whistled through the trees. "What is it, because right now, I wanna go kill Emmett for catnipping you. Even if it is kinda cute."

I looked Leah in the eyes. They glistened with uncertainty and curiosity. "Here." I handed her the white box I had concealed in my sleeve.

"What's this?" Leah took the box from my hands, but didn't open it.

"Remember when I called Ethan two weeks ago?"

"Who?"

"That guy I had make Alice's necklace." I answered her. For some strange reason, I couldn't control my breathing. It sped up faster and faster. Maybe it was another effect of the catnip.

"Yeah." Leah said. She tucked a few strands of her black hair behind her ear. Her eyelashes fluttered in the wind.

"Well, Alice's gift wasn't the real reason I called him." I was unable to look Leah in the eye. I watched the ground as if it were actually interesting. My face was pleasently warm even though it was below the freezing point for water.

"Aaand the reason is." Leah said. You'd really think the woman could take a damn hint. Either she was oblivious as hell, or was toying with me.

"Leah, just open the box." Now it was my sense of balance that was being affected by the blissfulness of the catnip. Greeat.

Leah opened the box like I asked her.

I glanced up at her to study her expression.

It was blank.

She extracted the necklace with the heart shaped pendant. It was studded all the way around in black Leo diamonds. The base was platinum. But the smaller center piece of the heart was golden and was uninterrupted by the black diamonds.

Leah fingered it delicately. "Why is it black?"

"That represents my heart after my parents died." I exhaled slowly, I didn't know why there were tears in my eyes. It was completely illogical.

"And the small golden piece in the middle?" Leah smiled sweetly at me as she cocked her head to the side.

"That's you." I said and hung my head so my hair would obstruct her view of my face. The tears threatened to spill over and I didn't want to cry anymore than I wanted Leah to see me cry. "You were that ray of golden light that made me feel alright. Kept me sane and showed me that not all was lost. I just...For lack of a better word, appreciate it."

I stole another glance at her through my hair.

Leah took out part two of her present; the ring. It was more of a cute creation I had Ethan make for her. It was an eternity band with white diamonds all the way around. Ethan bitched at me about had difficult they were to find. The top of the ring interrupted the flow of a normal eternity band with the head of a ferocious looking house cat, the diamonds in the face were the exact same shade of my pelt when I phased.

"It's cute." Leah said, her voice was shaking. "Thank you."

I raised my head to look at her. Her eyes that were normally filled with so much fire, now brimmed with tears, although none had escaped just yet.

"Leah, I didn't mean to..." I began, but Leah interrupted.

"You know if I cry I'm going to kick your ass. Right?" Leah smiled and laughed my favorite laugh. She walked over and stood a little closer to me, and gave me a quick kiss on the lips.

"I love you." Leah wrapped her arms around me and I did the same.

"I love you too." I said so quiet that it was almost a whisper. With her hearing I was sure she could hear me. I pressed a palm onto the car to steady myself. "But I'm not sure if that's me or the catnip talking."

"It's you." Leah's breath felt good on my skin. It smelled like the scent of fresh pine and Leah's normal lavender scent. It intoxicated me to the point where I almost forgot she said something to me.

"How do you know?" I mumbled into her chest and reveled in her warmth.

"Because you tell me every night as you sleep." She answered.

For that moment, it seemed like the entire world stopped. Stopped to let me enjoy this moment with my Leah. This Christmas would always be vibrant in the corners of my mind as new memories are made.

Never to be rewritten.

Never to be forgotten.

Then I had completely come to terms with what my Leah was to me.

_My Everything._

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**Thanks for reading and enjoy the rest of your holiday.**

**Best Regards.**


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